The Cossack Captive. Hadji Murat

In 1903, while telling the American journalist James Krilman about Hadji Murat, Tolstoy said: This is a poem about the Caucasus, not a sermon. The central figure is Hadji Murat - a national hero who served Russia, then fought against it alongside his people, and ultimately the Russians decapitated him. This is a tale of a people who despise death. The book includes stories from the Caucasian cycle: Raid, Timber Cutting, The Cossack Captive, Snowstorm, written from impressions of returning from the Caucasus to Yasnaya Polyana.